


Once More with Feeling

by cuckleberrywish



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4461230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuckleberrywish/pseuds/cuckleberrywish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor discovers Donna reading something very secretively in the library. It's not what he expects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once More with Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> An idea that came about after I mentioned in "Through the Looking Glass" that Donna knows what Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principal is. Complete and utter fluff.

Donna is no where to be found.

The Doctor wouldn’t be particularly bothered— she’s always wandered round the TARDIS as it strikes her fancy and he trusts his ship to get her back safely from whatever nook or cranny she’s discovered— except she’d told him, pointedly, that she was going to the library. And he simply cannot find her. 

And he’s _bored._

“Donna!” he calls slightly petulantly, meandering down another shadowy row of book shelves, his sonic screwdriver alight like a torch. _What’s the point of having companions if they disappear when you want to play with them?_

The Doctor rounds another corner and at last, sees a shadowy figure illuminated by a small lamp, sitting cross-legged at the very end of the aisle. Usually Donna prefers to read sprawled across her customary squashy armchair by the fire. What on earth could she be reading so secretively? The Doctor has seen her reading some positively trashy novels too. He doesn’t think she’d ever be embarrassed about her reading material in front of _him._

He darts down the aisle. “Donna!” he exclaims.

“Doctor!” she nearly shrieks, shoving her reading material behind her and leaping ungracefully to her feet. 

“Donnaaaaaa….” the Doctor drawls, raising his eyebrows. 

What ensues next is a desperate scuffle in which the Doctor tries to reach behind Donna’s back to grasp her book and Donna tries to slap away every bony body part of the Doctor’s that so much as grazes her. 

Finally, the Doctor is triumphant, waving the book victoriously above her head for a full 30 seconds before making a show of getting out his brainy specs to read the title. Donna is red faced and grumpy-looking, huffing out a breath that makes her fringe ruffle adorably. 

The title declares, in bold-face letters: 

**_Quantum Physics for Dummies: A Beginner’s Guide_ **

The Doctor makes a face at Donna. “Er…. what?”

Donna huffs and snatches the book out of his hands. “Leave me alone,” she spits and turns to march away. 

The Doctor grabs her shoulder and spins her around and she squirms, trying to escape his grip. 

“Leave me alone,” she growls again, in her most deadly tone of voice, the tone of voice that he has learned (from experience) means _so help me Doctor if you don’t do what I say this instant I am going to shout and/or slap you into your next regeneration._

“But why are you hiding this from me?” the Doctor exclaims gleefully. “This is a brilliant book!” 

“…It’s stupid,” Donna mumbles, still halfheartedly trying to shrug off the hand on her shoulder. 

“Noooo,” the Doctor coos, beaming at her. 

“I just thought if I could… if I could y’know, maybe know a bit more of what you were talking about then you wouldn’t get… you know…” she stares at her feet, her cheeks flaming. “…Bored of me,” she nearly whispers. 

“Oh Donna,” the Doctor sighs, slipping his hand down from her shoulder to grasp her hand firmly. “You could never bore me.” 

She meets his gaze and his hearts break at the look of gentle disbelief on her face now mingled with her embarrassment.

“I don’t _like_ being this dim, y’know,” she sighs and his hearts constrict. “I just never had much time for that sort of thing, that’s all.” She gestures at the book. 

“Donna Noble,” he says, and sits down suddenly, pulling her down next to him. “Donna Noble, you are so far from dim and boring and I cannot even conceive why those words would be in your vocabulary. Actually I can,” he growls, thinking darkly of Lance. “But they ought not to be. You are the absolute best company and my best best mate and I couldn’t be happier knocking about this old universe than I am with you,” he says, bumping her shoulder gently with his. 

She smiles wanly and leans her head on his shoulder. 

“And I think it’s brilliant that you’re reading this book.”

“Yeah?” She asks. 

“Completely brilliant. But don’t feel you need to read it for my sake. I like you just the way you are, gob and all.”

She swats at him and smiles crookedly. “Thanks.”

He grins back and leaps to his feet, holding his hand out for her to do the same.

“Now if I remember correctly, a certain mouthy ginger promised to make me banana cakes if we didn’t get arrested this week, which we _haven’t_ I’d like to point out, and thus far there have been no cakes forthcoming–“

“What about on Plexis?”

“Oh that hardly counted! We weren’t in prison five minutes…”

Donna snorts. “All right Spaceman. Let’s go.” 

The Doctor nearly skips the entire way to the kitchen. 


End file.
